Episode 1 (Hello)
Episode 1 The first episode in Countdown To Countdown. Plot The comic begins with Iris in his room in the Washington labs painting a picture of a girl. He looks at the painting before saying "You again." Shortly after, someone knocks on his door and it is revealed to be one of the researchers telling him it's time for another test. Iris follows the researcher through the building, along the way, two children make fun of Iris and bet he'll run away from his testing screaming and crying again. From the lab room the researchers watch Iris during his tests. It begins well, with Iris able to pull an apple from a fruit postcard and a coin from a painting. Then things begin to decline. Iris is then asked to pull a necklace from a painting. Iris dives into the painting and retrieves the piece of jewelry. Then the underwater environment begins to catch fire. The fishes in the paintings turn to paper and burn, the necklace cracks, and fire begins to spread. Iris is pulled out of the painting covered in burns and is taken to the medical room. The next scene is Iris in the shower. He then proceeds to get out and get dressed. His door is knocked on and he opens it to find a mocking note taped to his door which he tears apart. He returns to his room and goes to bed. As Iris is asleep he is being watched by someone (possibly Lillium) with a nearby news report on the status of Americans affected by the infection. The figure walks over to a filing cabinet and searches through Iris' files.A researcher returns to the room and the figure has disappeared. The next morning, Iris gets out of his room and goes to get something to eat only to find there's nothing in his fridge. He reluctantly leaves to go get food from the public kitchen. He looks around at the empty kitchen, finding the leftovers from dinner and then hearing a clang coming from the inside the chef's kitchen and investigates the noise after a can rolls out through the open door. Upon investigation, Iris finds out it is an infected kid eating the entrails of the chef. Their attention turns to Iris and talks to them in garbled speech. Iris runs out and through the halls before running into an infected Dr. Lin then barricades himself in a room behind a metal door. Looking down, he finds a message written on the floor that says "Follow Me" along with a second message pointing at the air vent saying it's loose. Iris makes a decision between the low probability of being able to make a run past Dr. Lin vs. the unknown probability of crawling through the vent. He chooses the latter and begins to crawl through the vents, following the messages left behind inside and even sticking his hand in the chewed up gum the owner of the messages left behind on accident. He finally exits the vents on top of the lobby, more messages left behind. He exits the building and begins to think whether or not this is a trap. An infected man begins to talk to Iris and even threaten him. In response, Iris shoves the man away but falls down the stairs of the lobby and hits his head. He blacks out but catches a glimpse of a figure walking towards him before doing so. Category:Episodes